Ron and Maroon/Ginny and Crushes

[Veronica]

No: HPFGUIDX 45055

Defending Ginny

Jo Serenadust:

IMO JKR has sent pretty clear signal in GoF, that Ginny has matured 
a great deal through her behavior surrounding the Yule ball, and if 
she were still the same swoony adolescent she wouldn't have had the 
nerve to risk Harry's irritation by telling Hermione that he and Ron 
had been turned down by the girls they invited to the ball. She was 
ticked off at both of the boys at that moment, and not afraid to 
show it. 


me: YES! YES! Thank you, Yes!

I think that JKR was very careful about how she showed Ginny in GoF. 
Every time we see her, we see how comfortable she is becoming around 
Harry. Here are a few examples (I don't have the book here for 
reference, sorry), though certainly not all.

1. When Harry arrives at the Burrow, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are 
dealing with the twins, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny all go up to 
Ron's room to escape. Certainly, Ginny is not one of the gang (they 
won't discuss Sirius with her there), but she doesn't see ill at 
ease. In fact, she helps explain about the twins' project, and talks 
with them very normally and comfortably. It is almost as if Harry and 
Hermione are part of their extended family.

2. At the WC, we see little of Ginny, but she is there the whole 
time. We don't see her dangling after Harry, or blushing and 
giggling. In fact, mostly, we see her fall asleep at the table and 
spill her cocoa. Pretty normal behavior around one's family.

3. The night before they leave for Hogwarts. Harry is taking care of 
his Firebolt, Hermione is reading, Ron is playing chess, and Ginny is 
sitting quietly taping up her old book. Again, I think we see that 
she is beginning to be herself when Harry is around. No hiding, or 
giggling, or doing anything self-conscious at all.

4. Finally, the much-debated scene before the Yule Ball. I won't go 
into detail, because I think Lilac did a BEAUTIFUL job in message 
45026 of interpreting her actions. She was disappointed, yes, either 
because she might have been able to go with Harry or because she was 
going with Neville or likely both. But, I hardly think she overreacts 
to anything. As Lilac pointed out, the fact that she didn't wait 
around for Harry to ask her says volumes -- so does the fact that she 
is able to pick on Harry and Ron, just like a kid sister. "Because – 
oh shut up laughing, you two – because they've both just been turned 
down by girls they asked to the ball!" said Ginny."

While Ginny is sadly underdeveloped. I hardly think that she is the 
flat character she is reputed to be. We have seen her hero-worship of 
Harry turn into a comfortable, if not close, friendship. She can be 
around him now without all the self-consciousness, blushing, and 
giggling of before. This change *may* (and I hope *will*) allow for 
further bonding of whatever kind in the future books. 

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Concerning the sweaters

Barb P wrote:

That's funny, because it never mentions Ron's having a letter at all.
But it really seems like George -was- talking to Ron.. because it
never indicated his attention had left Ron to go to Harry. But why
would Ron be the only one without a letter? Maybe Mrs. Weasley ran out
of time? Hehe


Me: Here is my theory. Warning, this is REALLY out there.

Because I am such a stickler for grammar in all written form other 
than e-mail and web forums, I always assumed that comment was 
directed at Ron. Now, if you were doing laundry (at least while they 
aren't as school) for six boys of varied ages, don't you think you 
might have a little trouble keeping everybody's stuff straight? 
Granted Bill's stuff wouldn't be confused with Ron's but it might 
have gotten mixed up with Charlie's. And even in SS (again, sorry I 
can't reference the page, but it as at the train station while Mrs. 
Weasley was telling everyone good-bye), we learn that Ron is almost 
as tall as the twins.

So, in order to make all the laundry easier to sort, maybe she uses a 
color-coding system. The twins' sweaters are blue (the letters 
distinguish Fred's from George's). Ron's are maroon. We don't know 
what color Percey's is (at least not in that scene), maybe his is 
green. Anyway, my point is that there might be more to it than we 
know.

If you are *really* desperate to defend the sweaters, maybe we will 
one day learn that the color maroon has some special power we never 
suspected. Hee! Hee!

Veronica